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Ioana Barac

Ioana Barac headshot

Adjunct Professor of Design

Architecture

College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture
203.710.3132 HJG 114 www.linkedin.com/in/ioana-barac
Education

Yale University School of Architecture, M.Arch. 2003

University of Hartford, B.S., summa cum laude 1998

Institute of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, Romania 1989-1992

Ioana Barac is a designer, maker, and educator. She has formal background in architecture and urban design with concentration in drawing, geometry and urban studies. Her practice straddles the fields of architecture and art.

She has worked for over a decade as principal design associate at BloomerStudio in New Haven, CT, leading and collaborating on national and local projects of architectural ornament and public art, and as senior designer at OakPark Architects, on institutional and commercial projects. In 2018 Barac founded Atelier Cue, an art-in-the-city, community engagement and place-making studio. Her work embraces the ancestral need for meaning and connection.

From flat pattern to elaborate, 3-dimensional installations, from text to fantastical landscape, she uses rhythm, light and figure, story and history to create memorable encounters and to embody the “spirit of the place”. Barac worked on projects in the public realm in Connecticut and nationally, from Phoenix to D.C. to Boston. Her urban design and philosophy topics of research include ornament and meaning, territory in public housing, authoritarian planning, and self and society.

As educator and practitioner, Barac prizes mentorship and collaboration, inter-disciplinary and multi-faceted projects and practices. Barac has taught graduate and undergraduate design studio since 2015 and has been a Graduate Thesis adviser since 2017.

PLACE MAKING and ART-IN-THE-CITY

  • Bridging Lanterns, New Haven, CT, in progress; State Street I-91 highway underpass light installation and community event, Could Be Fund 2019 selected proposal; in progress

  • Intersection to Connection: Chapel and State Street Bridge and Intersection Reimagined, New Haven, CT, in progress

  • Here, Now - The Conversation, Assembly Row, Somerville, MA, 2021, Decorative screen, mesh print, (2) 50’x150’, with Street Works Studio

  • Lost Generation, Botanical Memorial Garden for Victims of Gun Violence, New Haven, CT, 2021; 4’x16’x16’ steel sculpture (concept M. Mead)

  • Café Nero Trees, Assembly Row, Somerville, MA, 2019, Decorative screens, aluminum and vinyl print, (2) 12’x12’, with Street Works Studio

  • 930 Roses, 930 Rose Avenue, North Bethesda, MD, 2018, Ornamental art entry portal, 9’ x 7’

  • Stories of Bethesda, Canopy North Bethesda, MD, 2018, Multi-level public entry lobby site-specific works, including Pages Commemorative Chandelier, aluminum, cable, translucent vinyl, 8’ diameter x 12’; Keys ornamental art panels, 15’x 10’ and 15’ x 4’

ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT and PUBLIC ART
With Bloomerstudio 

  • Temple Exterior and Interior Ornament: railings; arches; ceiling tile; etched glass doors Guru Nanak Dwara Sikh Dharma Temple, Phoenix, AZ; 2003-2007

  • Building Ornament for Loggia Terrace and Children’s Room, and Forum Ceiling, Slover Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA (Newman Architects project architect); 2014: (concept w/ K. Bloomer)

  • Interior “Main Street” Ornament, Hill Central School, New Haven, CT (KBA project architect); 2012

  • Woolsey Hall Display Cabinets, New Haven, CT; 2007

  • Phelps Gate Display Cabinets, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2017

  • Bronze Flagpole Base, Federal Courthouse, Tuscaloosa, AL (HBRA project architect); 2010:

  • Frieze/Facade Ornament, 8300 WI Avenue, Bethesda, MD, 2016

  • Gateway Wings, NY Ave Bridge, Washington, DC; 2013

  • Stone friezes, Bass Library pavilion and stair, New Haven, CT (HBRA project architect); 2007

  • Foliated Window Trellis, West Springfield Public Library, W. Springfield, MA; 2015; aluminum, 4’x12’

  • Ornamental Gate, Yale Chemistry Building, Yale University, New Haven, CT; 2005

  • Shedding Light on Women History at Yale, Student Research Exhibit Tour, for YW-CT, 2020

  • Family, Planning: On Balancing Home and Practice Discussion Panel – with Maria Sieira, for Yale Women in Architecture + Equality In Design, 2020

  • Art in The City: Engaging Communities for Meaningful Design – CT Architecture Conference and Expo 2019

  • Key Features of Architecturally Integrated Art – SMPSCT MAX Event, Mark Twain House and Museum 2019

  • The Case for Ornament in Modern Architecture – Tecton Architects 2017